Unit 9
The Diary of the
Unknown
Soldier
purposes
? 1,To get students know the cruelty of war,
? 2,To understand the author’s purpose of
writing and know how to write diaries,
? 3,To reinforce some basic linguistic
knowledge by doing various types of exercises,
Diary
Diary is a unique type of writing in that it is not
structured in a pre-planned way as is a piece of
argumentation or a piece of narration,In a diary,the
writer’s pen simply follows the flow of his thoughts,
In other words,a piece of diary is usually
“structured” by the author’s free association
between the present,the past,and the future,
interwoven with his relevant remarks,
Structural analysis of the text
? The first entry,the horrible scene of the war;
his wish to be alive;
his longing for his family,
? The second entry,his reflections on war,interwoven with descriptions
of his grim situation in a small European town,
Facts,they are staying at the town,without food
and ammunition when the Nazi troops are coming;
Reflections,war creates more problems,and,Even
one war is too many”,
? The third entry,the imminent danger and,possibly,death,Nazi
troops coming,realization; of being close to death,
thinking of his family;
One last question,Why there should be war?
some difficult sentences,words or phrases
1,While that might not provide much to help them cope
with their loss,it will make the children feel like their
fathers made a difference,
Although my stories about their fathers’ death could
not relieve their sadness,they will enable the children
to see the extraordinary significance of their fathers’
contribution,
2,A saying I once heard strikes a painful not in my head,
“Even one war is too many.”
I suddenly recalled a saying I once heard that made
me very painful,,we can’t afford even one war.”
Language Points
dedicate
?题献给某人
他把第一本书献给他母亲。
He dedicated his first book to his mother,
?献身于
他献身于为国服务
He dedicated his life to the service of his country,
With an air of
? seeming to have / be
With his fiery glance and with an air of destiny,he
moved through the parting crowd toward the beggar,
Lily 带着愉快自信的神情出来走进院子。
Lily came out into the yard with an air of happy
confidence,
What they received was a one-way ticket to death,
-- they were doomed to die,
?The expression,one-way ticket to…” usually refers
to some inevitable consequence,
Human beings’ pursuit of nuclear arsenal will prove
to be a one-way ticket to self-destruction,
? cf,two-way ticket (a round trip)
Out of the blue
all of a sudden
?criticism that came out of the blue.突如其来的批评
?就在我度假回来的那天，哈佛大学突然通知我被录取
了。
Harvard informed me out of the blue of my admission
the day I returned from my vacation,
? 这份工作出乎意料地给了她。
The job had been offered to her out of the blue,
? scoop up 急速地或随意地收集或收拢
警察来的时候商贩们卷起他们的手表就跑了。
When the police arrived,the traders scooped up their watches and ran off,
? a sea of,a large mass spread out in front of one
This is a metaphor which is used to describe the scene more
vividly and give the readers a deep impression,
E.g., a torrent of anger; a mountain of books,
The actor looked out from the stage onto a sea of faces,
无穷的麻烦
a sea of troubles
红旗如海
a sea of red flags
一片火海
a sea of flames
I hope the garden that they planted is growing,
-- Actually,the author is saying that those things(trees,
vegetables or flowers) in the garden are growing,
e.g.,
The whole church is singing a song,
The grey hair should be respected,
The White House has to make some compromise with
the Congress on the budget,
Word has it that…
?It is said that…
Similar expressions,
Rumor has it that… Legend has it that
有传言说他们在办离婚
Word has it they're divorcing,
传说他们一百年前是夫妻。
Legend has it that they were couples 100 years ago,
Take precaution (against sth)
to do everything that is necessary to avoid danger or risk,
?John had taken the precaution of transferring his
house into his wife’s name before his company
collapsed,
?The accident would never have occurred if they had
taken precaution,
?他处处小心但还是在旧车交易中受骗
He took every precaution but still got a bad deal on
that used car,
?谨防火灾 !
Take precautions against fire!
?I fell apart inside
---I was overcome by the longing for my two
daughters,
fall apart—be emotionally disturbed
? strike a … note, to express the stated feeling or
message
His new book strikes a warning note against
government overspending,
总统的话有警告大家不要过分乐观的暗示。
The president struck a note of warning against over-
optimism,
?The person who said it had a valid point,
---The person who said it spoke the truth,
?Never have I been so enraged at my
fellowman,
---I have never been so enraged at any person as I am
now at this man,
Normally we use the plural form of,man” in,my
fellowmen” referring to human beings in general,
Here the author uses the singular form,my
fellowman” to refer to Hitler,who ended,innocent
lives” and destroyed,whole countries”
Translation
1,He scooped up the little boy and ran from the fire,
2,The boss assigned me to check the quality of all the goods
leaving the factory,
3,We have taken all the precautions we can against the painting
being stolen,
4,The company is selling off some of its buildings in an effort to
accumulate capital,
5,When you are learning to drive,having a good teacher makes a
big difference,
6,Rumour has it that he was killed in a raid in the local area,
7,Adam’s refusal to work overtime enraged his boss,
8,I was pleasantly surprised to see an old friend who appeared at
the party out of the blue,
Dictation
My Berlin diary for December 2 was limited to four words,
“Only three more days!” The Foreign Office was still holding
up my passport and exit visa,which worried me,I had to get
my passport and official permission to leave on December 5,
There was one other thing to do,For weeks I had thought
over how to get my diaries safely out of Berlin,At some
moments I had thought I ought to destroy them before leaving,
There was enough in them to get me hanged,
The morning I got my passport and exit visa I realized I
had less than twenty-four hours to figure out a way of getting
my Berlin diaries out,I again thought of destroying them,but I
wanted very much to keep them,if I could,Suddenly,later that
morning,the solution became clear,It was risky,but it was
worth a try,
The Diary of the
Unknown
Soldier
purposes
? 1,To get students know the cruelty of war,
? 2,To understand the author’s purpose of
writing and know how to write diaries,
? 3,To reinforce some basic linguistic
knowledge by doing various types of exercises,
Diary
Diary is a unique type of writing in that it is not
structured in a pre-planned way as is a piece of
argumentation or a piece of narration,In a diary,the
writer’s pen simply follows the flow of his thoughts,
In other words,a piece of diary is usually
“structured” by the author’s free association
between the present,the past,and the future,
interwoven with his relevant remarks,
Structural analysis of the text
? The first entry,the horrible scene of the war;
his wish to be alive;
his longing for his family,
? The second entry,his reflections on war,interwoven with descriptions
of his grim situation in a small European town,
Facts,they are staying at the town,without food
and ammunition when the Nazi troops are coming;
Reflections,war creates more problems,and,Even
one war is too many”,
? The third entry,the imminent danger and,possibly,death,Nazi
troops coming,realization; of being close to death,
thinking of his family;
One last question,Why there should be war?
some difficult sentences,words or phrases
1,While that might not provide much to help them cope
with their loss,it will make the children feel like their
fathers made a difference,
Although my stories about their fathers’ death could
not relieve their sadness,they will enable the children
to see the extraordinary significance of their fathers’
contribution,
2,A saying I once heard strikes a painful not in my head,
“Even one war is too many.”
I suddenly recalled a saying I once heard that made
me very painful,,we can’t afford even one war.”
Language Points
dedicate
?题献给某人
他把第一本书献给他母亲。
He dedicated his first book to his mother,
?献身于
他献身于为国服务
He dedicated his life to the service of his country,
With an air of
? seeming to have / be
With his fiery glance and with an air of destiny,he
moved through the parting crowd toward the beggar,
Lily 带着愉快自信的神情出来走进院子。
Lily came out into the yard with an air of happy
confidence,
What they received was a one-way ticket to death,
-- they were doomed to die,
?The expression,one-way ticket to…” usually refers
to some inevitable consequence,
Human beings’ pursuit of nuclear arsenal will prove
to be a one-way ticket to self-destruction,
? cf,two-way ticket (a round trip)
Out of the blue
all of a sudden
?criticism that came out of the blue.突如其来的批评
?就在我度假回来的那天，哈佛大学突然通知我被录取
了。
Harvard informed me out of the blue of my admission
the day I returned from my vacation,
? 这份工作出乎意料地给了她。
The job had been offered to her out of the blue,
? scoop up 急速地或随意地收集或收拢
警察来的时候商贩们卷起他们的手表就跑了。
When the police arrived,the traders scooped up their watches and ran off,
? a sea of,a large mass spread out in front of one
This is a metaphor which is used to describe the scene more
vividly and give the readers a deep impression,
E.g., a torrent of anger; a mountain of books,
The actor looked out from the stage onto a sea of faces,
无穷的麻烦
a sea of troubles
红旗如海
a sea of red flags
一片火海
a sea of flames
I hope the garden that they planted is growing,
-- Actually,the author is saying that those things(trees,
vegetables or flowers) in the garden are growing,
e.g.,
The whole church is singing a song,
The grey hair should be respected,
The White House has to make some compromise with
the Congress on the budget,
Word has it that…
?It is said that…
Similar expressions,
Rumor has it that… Legend has it that
有传言说他们在办离婚
Word has it they're divorcing,
传说他们一百年前是夫妻。
Legend has it that they were couples 100 years ago,
Take precaution (against sth)
to do everything that is necessary to avoid danger or risk,
?John had taken the precaution of transferring his
house into his wife’s name before his company
collapsed,
?The accident would never have occurred if they had
taken precaution,
?他处处小心但还是在旧车交易中受骗
He took every precaution but still got a bad deal on
that used car,
?谨防火灾 !
Take precautions against fire!
?I fell apart inside
---I was overcome by the longing for my two
daughters,
fall apart—be emotionally disturbed
? strike a … note, to express the stated feeling or
message
His new book strikes a warning note against
government overspending,
总统的话有警告大家不要过分乐观的暗示。
The president struck a note of warning against over-
optimism,
?The person who said it had a valid point,
---The person who said it spoke the truth,
?Never have I been so enraged at my
fellowman,
---I have never been so enraged at any person as I am
now at this man,
Normally we use the plural form of,man” in,my
fellowmen” referring to human beings in general,
Here the author uses the singular form,my
fellowman” to refer to Hitler,who ended,innocent
lives” and destroyed,whole countries”
Translation
1,He scooped up the little boy and ran from the fire,
2,The boss assigned me to check the quality of all the goods
leaving the factory,
3,We have taken all the precautions we can against the painting
being stolen,
4,The company is selling off some of its buildings in an effort to
accumulate capital,
5,When you are learning to drive,having a good teacher makes a
big difference,
6,Rumour has it that he was killed in a raid in the local area,
7,Adam’s refusal to work overtime enraged his boss,
8,I was pleasantly surprised to see an old friend who appeared at
the party out of the blue,
Dictation
My Berlin diary for December 2 was limited to four words,
“Only three more days!” The Foreign Office was still holding
up my passport and exit visa,which worried me,I had to get
my passport and official permission to leave on December 5,
There was one other thing to do,For weeks I had thought
over how to get my diaries safely out of Berlin,At some
moments I had thought I ought to destroy them before leaving,
There was enough in them to get me hanged,
The morning I got my passport and exit visa I realized I
had less than twenty-four hours to figure out a way of getting
my Berlin diaries out,I again thought of destroying them,but I
wanted very much to keep them,if I could,Suddenly,later that
morning,the solution became clear,It was risky,but it was
worth a try,
